fangataufa

2 oz Manzanilla Sherry
1/2 oz Green Chartreuse
1/2 oz Cynar
1/2 oz BG Reynolds Passion Fruit Syrup
1/2 oz Lime Juice

Shake with ice and strain into a coupe glass. Garnish with a lime wheel.

The drink I picked out of Sahil Mehta's recipe notebook at Estragon was a Tiki number that lacked a name. With a base spirit of sherry, it had a curious appeal to me akin to the Sherry Jungle Bird and Sherry Mai Tai. Sahil was bandying about names, considered the Bikini Atoll, and asked if there were any drinks out there with that name; I replied that I had created one but that should not stop him. Instead, he later called it Fangataufa; Sahil explained, "it's another atoll where nuclear weapons were tested. The reason I was initially drawn to both names is that they sound exotic and tropical like the flavors on the sip but they have a darker side to them, just like the swallow where cynar comes in."
The lime wheel's aroma melded well with the herbal notes especially the Green Chartreuse. The lime and passion fruit paired well on the sip, and the swallow offered a dry-savory meets bitter-herbal effect with a grape-like finish. Indeed, the acid of the dry sherry partnered well with the acid of the citrus here.